Deubler etal
rotating union control valve



Sept. 20, 1966 L. H. DEUBLER ETAL 3,273,5 2

ROTATING UNION CONTROL VALVE Filed March 27, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 6055 J6 J0 J6 [20673329 law Hfleabier; Jam (Z 2 0/72: Mawzce f/zomaa, BY [EW/ a p 0, 1966 L. H. DEUBLER ETAL 3,273,592

ROTATING UNION CONTROL VALVE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 27, 1964 I I l n L 35 709 OFF ve 4W United States Patent 3,273,592 RDTATING UNION CONTROL VALVE Louis H. Deubler, James A. Porter, and Maurice Thomas,

Northbrook, 111., assignors to Deublin Company, N orthbrook, 111., a corporation of Illinois Filed Mar. 27, 1964, Ser. No. 355,398 4 Claims. (Cl. ICU-624.13)

The present invention relates to a rotating union type of air control valve or cycling valve adapted to project jets of compressed air intermittently or at cyclically timed frequencies.

Referring first to the practice of projecting jets of compressed air intermittently or at frequent short intervals, this practice is now employed for blowing chips away from machine tools, or for cleaning out machined bores, or for performing numerous other related operations.

Referring now to the practice of projecting jets of compressed air at cycling frequencies, this practice is now employed in industry for acting on or causing air impelled movement of numerous small articles of manufacture, typically represented by tissue sheets, paper commodities, cotton commodities, puff balls and the like. The air jets act cyclically upon the products for performing different functions, such as removing the products successively from a point of manufacture, inserting or packing the products into cartons, or for performing various other well known operations.

Because these operating functions are generally performed by high speed automatic machinery, the air jets must operate at relatively high frequencies, and in the cyclically controlled situation the air jets must also 0perate in cyclical synchronism with the particular operating function being performed, or in synchronism with the individual movements of the successive articles.

Heretofore, this high speed air jet control has generally been obtained by mechanically or electrically responsive air valves actuated, for example, by cam and follower mechanisms, or by electrically operated solenoids, etc. These prior operating mechanisms have been expensive to install, and have also been difficult and expensive to maintain in proper working order.

The foregoing objections and difliculties residing in these prior operating mechanisms have all been avoided by our improved rotating union type of valve. Inasmuch as a rotating union is generally necessary for conducting the compressed air to the point of application, we have evolved the present concept of building an aircontrol or cycling valve directly into the rotating union, in the form of two relatively rotating face-to-face valve disks having valving ports therein, one of these valve disks being held stationary within the stationary housing portion of the union, and the other valve disk rotating directly with the tubular rotor portion of the union. Thus, jets of compressed air will flow through the valve disks when the valve ports thereof are in registry, and the frequency of these jets and the cyclical timing thereof will be determined by the number of ports in the valve disks and by the speed of rotation of the tubular rotor portion of the union and rotating valve disk. Variations in the frequency of the :air jets, in the duration or length of each air jet, and also in the cyclical timing thereof, can be readily made or adjusted by merely substituting one or both of the two valve disks with other disks having different sizes and different spacings of valve ports therein, and/ or changing the rate of rotation of the tubular rotor.

Another object of the invention is to provide such a control valve which will function as a measuring valve for measuring predetermined quantities of either a gaseous or liquid fluid introduced through the rotating union.

Quite obviously, the cost of such control Valve or cycling valve, consisting of only two ported valve disks, is much lower than the prior mechanically or electrically operated valves previously described.

Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description of one preferred embodiment thereof. In the accompanying drawings illustrating such embodiment:

FIGURE 1 is a longitudinal sectional view through such form of rotating union control valve;

FIGURE 2 is an elevational view of the left hand or rotor end of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is an elevational view of the right hand end of FIGURE 1; and

FIGURES 4 to 13 inclusive correspond to transverse views taken approximately on the plane of the line XX of FIGURE 1, and showing successive on and off positions of the internal disk valve.

FIGURES 1-3 illustrate one preferred embodiment of rotating union to 'which the present invention can be advantageously adapted, but it will be understood that the invention can be adapted to other embodiments of rotating unions as well. In this preferred embodiment, the stationary housing of the unit, designated 20, may be in the form of a casting preferably composed of aluminum or other non-corrosive material. Rotatably mounted in the left hand end of this housing 20 is the tubular rotor 25, composed for example of stainless steel, and having the axial discharge passageway 26 therethrough. This rotor is coupled to the driving element of the device that is to receive the pulsed jets or air or other fluid under pressure; or that is to receive the gaseous or liquid fluid to be measured by the rotating union control valve, whereby the rotor 25 is revolved at a predetermined rate established by the driving element of the above device.

Secured to the opposite end of the stationary housing 20 is a stationary inlet bell 27, which is preferably in the form of an aluminum forging or the like. The bell 27 comprises an outer radial attaching flange 28 through which cap screws 30 pass for threading into tapped holes in the housing 20. It also comprises a rearwardly projecting axial boss 34 provided with a downwardly or angularly facing inlet 36 which is internally threaded, preferably with a pipe thread, for receiving a nipple at the end of a supply conduit connecting with a fluid sup-ply source. As previously indicated, this fluid supply source may be a fluid under pressure, such as compressed air, vapor, steam or other fluid which is intended to be emitted through the rotor 25 in pulsed jets at a rate predetermined by the rate of rotation of the rotor 25; or, alternatively the fluid conduit may connect with a source of gaseous or liquid fluid which may be under a mere gravitational pressure or head, or any desired higher pressure, and which is intended to be projected through the rotating union at a measured rate, i.e., measured in terms of volume, or measured in terms of weight, or other factors. This latter measuring capability will be later described in greater detail.

Referring again to the end bell 27, it will be seen that the fluid conducted through the supply conduit enters an axial bore 40 which constitutes an inlet or admission chamber for receiving the fluid. Confined in this chamber is a compression spring 42, the pressure of which is transmitted forwardly against the end of a tubular carrier sleeve 44 having an axial passageway 45 therethrough. This carrier sleeve 44 is mounted so as to be capable of a forward sliding motion under the pressure of the spring 42; and so as to be also capable of a limited tilting or angular floating motion Within the chamber or bore 40. The shank portion of the sleeve 44 is spaced slightly from the bore 40, as indicated at 46, to permit the aforesaid tilting or floating motion. To prevent leakage forwardly through this space 46 there is provided a circular O-ring 48, which seats in a counterbore 50 in the end belt 27 and has its inner peripheral surface bearing resiliently against the shank portion of the sleeve 44. The O-ring is confined within the counterbore 50 by a retaining washer 52 which is clampingly held between an abutment face 54 formed in the end bell 27 and a companion abutment face 58 formed at the outer end of the stationary housing 20. The abutment face 54 is formed in the bottom of a second counterbore 56 in the end bell, and the companion abutment face 58 is formed at the end of a boss 60 which projects outwardly from the housing for centering engagement within the flange 28 of the end bell 27. The central hole 64 through the retaining washer 52 has its front edge beveled or chamfered, and the reduced remainder of this central hole 64 is slightly spaced from the shank of the sleeve 44, whereby to provide a free floating mounting which permits the aforesaid slight tilting or cocking movement of the sleeve. The forward end of the tubular mounting 44 is enlarged to form a cylindrical socket 68 for mounting the stationary one of the two apertured valve disks 1008 and 100R, which will be presently described in detail. It will also be noted that the outer peripheral surface of this enlarged socket 68 is spaced slightly from the bore 69 of the housing 20, so as not to interfere with the aforesaid slight tilting movement of the floating mounting unit 44. However, as shown in FIGURE 4, this outer peripheral surface of the socket 68 is formed with diametrically opposite flat keying surfaces 70 which have a rather loose fit with coacting flat keying surfaces 71 (of DD outline) formed within the housing bore 69, whereby the floating mounting sleeve 44 is held against rotation within the housing but is not held against the aforesaid limited degree of tilting movement therein.

The stationary housing 20 is formed with a large axial bore 72 in which are seated inner and outer ball bearings 74 and 76 which surround the inner stem portion 78 of the rotor 25, thus affording an anti-friction bearing support for the rotor. The outer races of these two bearings are confined between the internal shoulder 82 and a snap ring 84 carried by the stationary house 20; and the inner races of these bearings are confined between an internal shoulder 86 and a snap ring 88 carried by the tubular stem 78 of the rotor. The projecting end of the rotor is threaded, preferably with an external pipe thread 90, and is also provided with a wrench receiving hexagon or other suitable formation 92. It will be understood that the thread 90 screws into a rotating container or other rotating unit which is to receive the pulsed or measured jets of fluid, such receiving device preferably being rotated at a predetermined speed or speeds of rotation, which constitute a factor in determining the frequency of the pulsed or measured jets; another factor residing in the number of valve ports in the two valve disks, as will be presently described.

Referring again to the internal shoulder 82 in the housing 20, a conical counterbore 94 extends inwardly from the shoulder and intersects with the cylindrical counterbore 69 which surrounds the floating socket 68. Opening downwardly into this conical counterbore 94 is a lubricating bore 95 provided with a conventional lubricating fitting 96 at its upper end. The inner end of the rotor stem 78 is provided with a counterbore 98 which forms a socket or seat for mounting the rotating disk element of the valve assembly.

This valve assembly, designated 100 in its entirety, comprises a rotating valve disk 100R and a stationary valve disk 1005, the rotating valve disk 100R being mounted in the counterbore 98 to rotate with the rotor and the stationary valve disk 1005 being fixedly mounted within the non-rotating socket 68 of floating sleeve 44. The floating mounting and the pressure of the spring 42 maintains the interface surfaces of these two disks pressed resiliently together over their entire surface areas. These two valve disks are preferably composed of dissimilar materials which can have their interface surfaces lap ground to produce very closely fitting seal faces. For example, the rotating valve disk or element R is preferably composed of a tool steel or some like alloy metal, and the non-rotating floating valve element 1005 is preferably composed of carbon graphite or other like material; it being understood however that this relationship of materials may be reversed between the rotating and non-rotating valve elements.

Extending through the two valve elements 100R and 1088 are circularly arranged valve ports or passages which rotate into and out of communicating relationship with each other as the rotor 25 revolves within the stationary housing 20. Each of the two valve elements may have only one of such valve ports, or it may have any desired number thereof, all on the same radii of rotation, as shown in FIGURES 4-13. In the exemplary construction illustrated, we have shown the rotating valve element 100R as being provided with three evenly spaced ports r1, 1'2 and r3. In contrast thereto, we have shown the non-rotating floating valve element 1008 as being provided with only a single valve port s1. Here again, the relationship might be reversed between the relative number of ports in the rotating and non-rotating v-alve disks; moreover, either of the disks might be provided with a greater or lesser number of valve ports, depending upon the speed of rotation of the rotor 25 and the desired pulsing or measuring frequency. Still further, while the valve ports are shown as being of circular formation, it may be desirable in some instances to construct them as angularly extending slots or of other desired formations; as, for example, when it is desired that each single pulse shall be of longer length or time duration. Also, either the leading sides or the trailing sides of the inlet and outlet ports s1 and r1, r2, r3, respectively, may be sloped at the interface surfaces of the two disks to af ford a more gradual admission or a more gradual cutoff of the fluid flow through the registering ports.

In FIGURES 4 to .13 inclusive the different ON and OFF intervals are shown in the specific illustrated embodiment where the stationary disk has a single inlet port s1 and the rotating disk has three outlet ports r1, r2 and r3. With ports of circular shape, and of approximately the diameters shown, there are three ON intervals of approximately 52 each, and there are three OFF intervals of approximately 68 each; it being understood of course that this merely typifies one exemplary embodiment.

In most instances the device will function as a cycling valve for admitting pulses of compressed air or other fluid in cyclically timed relation to the performance of one or more industrial operations, and in such situations it will be understood that the rotor 2-5 will be driven in a synchronized relation with respect to the apparatus which is to receive the pulsed jets, so as to have these jets arrive at the proper times or intervals.

When the device is to measure the volume of a fluid or liquid admitted .into a receptacle or other apparatus, or to admit only a predetermined fixed volume of fluid or liquid, the rate of rotation of the rotor 25, or the total number of revolutions thereof, should be accurately sensed or determined.

While we have illustrated and described what we regard to be the preferred embodiment of our invention, nevertheless it will be understood that such is merely exemplary and numerous modifications and rearrangements may be made therein without departing from the essence of the invention.

We claim:

1. In a rotating union embodying a control valve, the

combination of a relatively stationary housing, a rotor member rotata-bly mounted in said housing and projecting from one end thereof, means for coupling the projecting end of said rotor to a rotating driving device adapted to receive fluid conducted through said rotating union, a discharge passageway extending axially through said rotor member, a flu-id inlet chamber in the other end of said stationary housing, and valve means for controlling the flow of fluid from said inlet chamber into the discharge passageway of said rotor member, said valve means comprising a rotatable valve dis-k mounted in said rotor to rotate therewith, a non-rotating valve disk mounted in said inlet chamber, a tubular carrier sleeve in said inlet chamber in which said non-rotating valve disk is mounted, means slidably supporting said carrier sleeve, a spring in said inlet chamber acting against said carrier sleeve to hold said non-rotating valve disk resiliently pressed against said rotatable valve disk, and valve ports in both of said disks operative to move into and out of registration by the relative rotation between said disks for controlling the flow of fluid from said inlet chamber to the discharge passageway through said rotor member.

2. The combination define-d in claim 1, wherein said rotatable valve disk is of tool steel composition and said non-rotating valve disk is of carbon graphite composition.

3. In a rotating union type of fluid control device, the combination of a relatively stationary housing, a tubular rotor, anti-friction bearings rotatab-ly mounting said rotor in said housing, means for coupling said rotor to a rotary driving device normally rotating at a predetermined speed, an inlet chamber in said housing for receiving the fluid to be controlled, valve means for controlling the flow of fluid trorn said inlet chamber into said tubular rotor, said valve means comprising a rotatable valve disk mounted in the inner end of said rotor to rotate therewith, a non-rotating valve disk mounted in said inlet chamber, a floating carrier sleeve in said inlet chamber in which said non-rotating valve disk is mounted, a compression spring in said inlet chamber acting against said carrier sleeve to hold said non-rotating valve disk resiliently pressed against said rotatable valve disk, means mounting said carrier sleeve comprising an O-ring interposed between said inlet chamber and said sleeve, said mounting means permitting endwise sliding movement of said sleeve and also permitting angular tilting movement thereof, a valve port in said non-rotating valve disk spaced radially outwardly from the center thereof, and a plurality of valve ports in said rotatable valve disk spaced radially outwardly from the center thereof and adapted to move into and out of registration with the valve port in said non-rotating valve disk.

4. The combination defined in claim 3, wherein the outer portion of said stationary housing is in the form of an end bell in which at least a part of said inlet chamher is defined, and a mounting washer clamped between said stationary housing and said end bell, said mounting Washer confining said O-rin-g in said inlet chamber and also establishing a loose fitting guidance of said carrier sleeve to permit the aforesaid lateral tilting thereof.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,336,123 4/ 1920 Barnes 251352 X 2,637,443 5/ 1953 Schwartz 251-604 X FOREIGN PATENTS 910,720 2/ 1946 France.

M. OARY NELSON, Primary Examiner.

A. ROSENTHAL, Assistant Examiner. 

1. IN A ROTATING UNION EMBODYING A CONTROL VALVE, THE COMBINATION OF A RELATIVELY STATIONARY HOUSING, A ROTOR MEMBER ROTATABLY MOUNTED IN SAID HOUSING AND PROJECTING FROM ONE END THEREOF, MEANS FOR COUPLING THE PROJECTING END OF SAID ROTOR TO A ROTATING DRIVING DEVICE ADAPTED TO RECEIVE FLUID CONDUCTED THROUGH SAID ROTATING UNION, A DISCHARGE PASSAGEWAY EXTENDING AXIALLY THROUGH SAID ROTOR MEMBER, A FLUID INLET CHAMBER IN THE OTHER END OF SAID STATIONARY HOUSING, AND VALVE MEANS FOR CONTROLLING THE FLOW OF FLUID FROM SAID INLET CHAMBER INTO THE DISCHARGE PASSAGEWAY OF SAID ROTOR MEMBER, SAID VALVE MEANS COMPRISING A ROTATABLE VALVE DISK MOUNTED IN SAID ROTOR TO ROTATE THEREWITH, A NON-ROTATING VALVE DISK MOUNTED IN SAID INLET CHAMBER, A TUBULAR CARRIER SLEEVE IN SAID INLET CHAMBER IN WHICH SAID NON-ROTATING VALVE DISK IS MOUNTED, MEANS SLIDABLY SUPPORTING SAID CARRIER SLEEVE, A SPRING IN SAID INLET CHAMBER ACTING AGAINST SAID CARRIER SLEEVE TO HOLD SAID NON-ROTATING VALVE DISK RESILIENTLY PRESSED AGAINST SAID ROTATABLE VALVE DISK, AND VALVE PORTS IN BOTH OF SAID DISKS OPERATIVE TO MOVE INTO AND OUT OF REGISTRATION BY THE RELATIVE ROTATION BETWEEN SAID DISKS FOR CONTROLLING THE FLOW OF FLUID FROM SAID INLET CHAMBER TO THE DISCHARGE PASSAGEWAY THROUGH SAID ROTOR MEMBER. 